


Growing Up

by ApplejuiceAce



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Growing Up, IPRE, angus and the seven birds being a family, angus deserves more love, angus growing up, secret santa taz 2017, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:56:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApplejuiceAce/pseuds/ApplejuiceAce
Summary: Growing up is hard. But he had the best support a child could wish for.My Secret Santa fic formissingrendition





	Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun to write, even though I was busy an then got really sick. I hope you like it anyways!
> 
> Also, a big thanks to Shinykipp for betaing this <3

Growing up was hard, for everyone, no matter the circumstances. For some it was harder than for others, but it was never easy. Angus McDonald was grown up at the age of 10.

It wasn’t like he chose this, it was more something that he had to do. He didn’t really have any relatives aside for his grandfather who passed away. He was intelligent, maybe not a genius necessarily, but he was smarter than most kids his age. He was the world’s greatest detective. He could fend on his own.

And he was so lonely.

Angus never was granted the time to be what he was - a child. Living on the moon secluded him. He was surrounded by adults, adults he loved and treasured, but it wasn’t the same as having actual friends, he had to face the relics, the hunger, the threat of losing every person close to him at any given time. Especially Taako, Merle and Magnus.

It never bothered him. Maybe because he didn’t know anything else. He didn’t know what he was missing, that he was missing something. Until the Day of Story and Song was over, until the hunger was gone, until they rebuilt their lives on the ashes of what they once had. Until he joined school, found friends, met people his age.

He was grateful before. He was grateful for the seven birds, for the Bureau, for his family. But going to school, having his own life, being a child - it meant so much to him. It was everything he didn’t even know he needed. Acting like an adult was hard to shake off, acting like a kid was hard. He couldn’t do it all times and he didn’t had to. But slowly, slowly he could act like his age again. This time, he could grow up slowly. And this time, he had such a big family to support him.

When he started school, it’d been so long since he had proper classes, Lucretia helped him pick out all the supplies he needed and at the end he probably had more pens and notebooks than he could ever use in his school time. She often reviewed notes with him, helped him to organize and color code everything and when they had the time, she showed him how to write with two hands. It was a really useful skill that also impressed one or two of his classmates.

When he didn’t know how to make friends, because how do you talk to people you own age, Magnus was there to show him how. How to greet people, how to start a conversation. “If you run out of topics talk about pets, everyone loves pets. If they don’t, ditch them.”

Magnus also taught him some basic self defense. Nothing too impressive, especially since he was learning magic he wouldn’t need hand to hand combat a lot. But it couldn’t hurt and to be honest, it was quite fun. Especially when Carey was around and joined them. The two of them were just fun to be around.

When everyone slowly got more busy, Taako started to teach him cooking. From time to time he still helped him with spells, but soon enough it turned into cooking sessions whenever they met. The elf was an amazing wizard but an even greater chef. That way, Angus could cook for himself whenever he was on his own, which wasn’t too often— “but you never know, right?” and, “can’t let our magic boy starve, can we?”

When his nightmares got more frequent, more terrifying again, Barry was there, at his side, calming him down and giving him tips how to avoid and deal with those dreams. They linked their stones of farspeech, so that Angus could call him whenever he couldn’t be alone. It took the detective a while to get back on that offer, since he didn’t want to impose on Barry too much ,but Barry always came, sometimes even asking Lup or Kravitz to finish his work when he was out on a hunt. All three of them assured that it was fine this way, they were family after all.

Soon enough, Angus had a collection of dream catchers and good luck charms. And while he didn’t believe too much in such things that neither science nor magic could explain, it made him feel a bit safer. Loved. Not alone. (Eventually he asked Taako for spells that’d help him sleep to cast on the charms.)

When he had summer break and his time allowed it, he sometimes went to travel with Davenport and Merle. Whether it’d be on Davenport’s ship or with Merle’s Extreme Teen Adventure camp, it was unexpectedly fun for him. Angus couldn’t imagine traveling like this with someone else. Sometimes he was allowed to steer the ship or he was taught a lot about herbology and met all kinds of people. It was good for him to get out for a while and forget school and work.

When he had his first crush, he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Or who to ask. He loved his family, but he wasn’t sure if they were the right people to ask. Taako and Lup maybe, but they ticked a bit different than him. Barry, but he imposed on him so much already. At first Angus decided to keep it to himself. However, through one thing or another he ended up spilling everything. To Kravitz. Who just listened to him calmly as the young boy spilled his heart out to Death himself.

In the end it was the right thing, because Kravitz was a good listener and gave great advice. Even if he had “no clue how he got someone like Taako” he knew one or two things. So they picked out clothes together, practiced how Angus could ask his crush out and where they could go. They ended up growing closer through this and spending more time together. Eventually, Kravitz even started to teach Angus how to play the piano and more often than not Taako was with them, just listening or doing his thing on the other end of the room.

When Angus went through his first breakup, Lup found him crying near school grounds. It was messy and heavy on his heart and Lup let him cry for as long as he needed to. But once he was finished she said “and now that you let it all out, don’t let it close to you again. You’re so much better than that, Angus.”

They spend the rest of the weekend together. She took him to various places she think he’d like, shot some furniture in an abandoned house with magic spells, took him to good places to eat. It was one of the best days he ever had and he was so thankful for that.

When he graduated, all of them came. Taako, Kravitz, Lup, Barry, Magnus, Merle, Davenport, Lucretia… All of them were there, for him, his family. Over the years he had grown. And all of them had been with him in every step of it.

Along the way, Angus made friends, lost them and found new ones. He grew as a person. He tried out different fashion styles, hair colors, had a lot of different hobbies and interests. He grew into a skilled young man. Into someone who was loved by a lot of people, who already saw so much of the world. Someone who got his heart broken and got up again, who found a new love. Someone to be proud of. Someone who was happy.

And it wasn’t even the end yet. He wasn’t fully grown up yet, but he was getting there. He had friends, a degree, a family. He was happy.

Growing up is hard. But he had the best support a child could wish for. He could take his time.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and say hi on [tumblr](http://yeoulstarburry.tumblr.com/)


End file.
